Sahara Shekinah-Gutierrez, 18, left, a first-time voter, and her grandmother, Rosaura Toro, 72, a native of Puerto Rico, leave the Danbury War Memorial after voting Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. Sahara, who was born in the U.s., is the daughter of Puerto Rican and Dominican Republic parents. less

Sahara Shekinah-Gutierrez, 18, left, a first-time voter, and her grandmother, Rosaura Toro, 72, a native of Puerto Rico, leave the Danbury War Memorial after voting Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. Sahara, who was born ... more

Sahara Shekinah-Gutierrez, 18, left, a first-time voter, and her grandmother, Rosaura Toro, 72, a native of Puerto Rico, get their photo taken after voting at the Danbury War Memorial Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. Sahara, who was born in the U.s., is the daughter of Puerto Rican and Dominican Republic parents. less

Sahara Shekinah-Gutierrez, 18, left, a first-time voter, and her grandmother, Rosaura Toro, 72, a native of Puerto Rico, get their photo taken after voting at the Danbury War Memorial Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. ... more

DANBURY - In one of the most diverse cities in Connecticut and the nation on Tuesday, Latino residents were lining up to cast votes in a presidential election marked by harsh rhetoric about immigrants.

More than 200 people had registered to vote on Election Day by Tuesday morning in Danbury, including Laura Henriquez, a native of the Dominican Republican who became a citizen last year. She said that she became a citizen, in part, so that she could cast her vote in the presidential race.

Henriquez said she voted for Hillary Clinton for president because the country needs someone with experience in the office.

“Both candidates are no good, but I voted for Clinton because she has more experience and would make a better president,” she said.

Latino turnout surged in early voting across the country, and in Danbury, Latino leaders were enthusiastic.

“Latino voters are turning out in very large numbers because we know there is a lot at stake during this election,” said Carolina Bortolleto, an organizer of the event and founder of Connecticut Students for a DREAM. “This election has shown how there is still a large anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States and our community it reacting to that. We want to stop the hate.”

Many of those voting, expressing the explosive and volatile nature of the election, declined to identify who they voted for when asked by a reporter from The News-Times.

“There really isn’t much of a choice,” said Silvio Cardoso of Bethel, a Brazilian native who was voting for the first time Tuesday.

Immigrant families and first-time Latino voters were to gather Tuesday night at the Ecuadorian Civic Center in Danbury to watch the election results. A similar watch party for immigrant families was to be held at the University of Connecticut at the Storrs campus.

In Nevada, a key swing state, more than three-fourths of the likely vote had been cast in early voting prior to Tuesday, and Democrats lead, 42 percent to 36 percent. Latino and Asian-American turnout were up by double-digits.

And rising Latino participation was in a position to benefit Democrats in a few southern Republican-leaning states.

At least 4.5 million votes had been cast prior to Tuesday in Texas' top 15 counties, up 32 percent. The state does not provide party breakdowns, but voter modeling by Catalist found sharper rates of increases among Latinos.